Gunsight Pass eBook

Young Sanders felt keenly his inexperience. They
were taking advantage of him because he was a boy.
He did not know what to do. He had a right to
insist on a siding, but it was not his business to
decide which one.

The train rolled past another siding and into the
yards of the division town. At once Dave hurried
to the station. The conductor about to take charge
of the train was talking with the one just leaving.
The range-rider saw them look at him and laugh as
he approached. His blood began to warm.

“I want you to run this train onto a siding,”
he said at once.

“You the train dispatcher?” asked the
new man satirically.

“You know who I am. I’ll say right
now that the cattle on this train are suffering.
Some won’t last another hour. I’m
goin’ to reload.”

“Are you? I guess not. This train’s
going out soon as we’ve changed engines, and
that’ll be in about seven minutes.”

“I’ll not go with it.”

“Suit yourself,” said the officer jauntily,
and turned away to talk with the other man.

Dave walked to the dispatcher’s office.
The cowpuncher stated his case.

“Fix that up with the train conductor,”
said the dispatcher. “He can have a siding
whenever he wants it.”

“But he won’t gimme one.”

“Not my business.”

“Whose business is it?”

The dispatcher got busy over his charts. Dave
became aware that he was going to get no satisfaction
here.

He tramped back to the platform.

“All aboard,” sang out the conductor.

Dave, not knowing what else to do, swung on to the
caboose as it passed. He sat down on the steps
and put his brains at work. There must be a way
out, if he could only find what it was. The next
station was fifteen miles down the line. Before
the train stopped there Dave knew exactly what he
meant to do. He wrote out two messages. One
was to the division superintendent. The other
was to Henry B. West.

He had swung from the steps of the caboose and was
in the station before the conductor.

“I want to send two telegrams,” he told
the agent. “Here they are all ready.
Rush ’em through. I want an answer here
to the one to the superintendent.”

The wire to the railroad official read:

Conductor freight number 17 refuses me siding to reload
stock in my charge. Cattle down and dying.
Serve notice herewith I put responsibility for all
loss on railroad. Will leave cars in charge of
train crew.